Villagers demand permanent closure of GEPIL

Sanctuary Blog

Villagers of around 32 coastal villages surrounding the city took out a massive rally on Monday demanding permanent closure of Gujarat Enviro Protection and Infrastructure Private Ltd (GEPIL), which has been blamed for discharging highly toxic hazardous water in Unn Khadi.

Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) in December 2011 had found two illegal connections directly discharging this hazardous waste in Unn Khadi.

Tens of hundreds of villagers participated in the rally, which started from Khajod village and culminated at the district collector's office at Bahumali building at Nanpura, where the leaders of the Parivartan Trust submitted a memorandum to the district administration demanding permanent closure of GEPIL within a month's time.

The villagers, carrying placard against GEPIL and its owner Girish Luthra, shouted slogans demanding immediate closure of the company responsible for threatening the ecology and atmosphere in the coastal villages.

In December-2011, the GPCB had exposed two illegal pipelines from an Integrated Common Hazardous Waste Management Facility (ICHWMF) operated by GEPIL to dump untreated industrial waste into Unn rivulet. Following the expose, the GPCB had issued an immediate closure notice to GEPIL.

"GEPIL's illegal activities have been exposed in the GPCB findings and now we won't allow this company to operate further. The company is threat to ecology and atmosphere in the surrounding villages and it will be our sole goal to see that the company is closed permanently," said Prakash Contractor, secretary, Parivartan Trust.